Record

Authorised form of name	Threlfall; Sir; Richard (1861 - 1932); physicist and chemical engineer
Dates	1861 - 1932
Nationality	British
Place of birth	Hollowforth, Woodplumpton, near Preston, Lancashire, England
Date of birth	14 August 1861
Place of death	Edgbaston, Birmingham, England
Date of death	10/07/1932
DatesAndPlaces	Burial: Family tomb at St Anne's Church, Woodplumpton, Lancashire, England.
Occupation	physicist and chemical engineer
Research field	Physical chemistry
	Physics
	Electrochemistry
Activity	Education: Clifton College, Cambridge; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge natural sciences tripos (1884). Career: Studied mathematics privately with W. J. Ibbetson; worked under August Jundt and Rudolph Fitting; became a demonstrator in the Cavendish Laboratory under Joseph John Thomson (FRS 1884); appointed professor of physics at the University of Sydney (1886); demanded for a new building to house the department and oversaw its completion (1888); president of a royal commission on the carriage of coal in ships (1896); obtained leave of absence to inquire into methods of teaching electrical subjects in Europe and on return resigned his chair (1898); appointed director of research with the chemical manufacturing firm Albright and Wilson of Oldbury, Birmingham (1898) and became director of the firm (1901); engaged in the use of phosphorus as smoke screens and in tracer ammunition. He arranged for the exploration of sources of helium in gas wells in America and created a scheme for the production of heloum in quantity, and its use in balloons and airships (1914); invited by the Admiralty to serve on the board of invention and research (1915); became one of the original members of the government Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research (1916); offered but refused the directorship of the National Physical Laboratory (1919); declining health (1925). Honours: KBE 1917; GBE 1927 Memberships: Royal Society of New South Wales (President 1895) Fuel Research Board Chemical Research Board Awards/Medals: Gold medal of the Society of Chemical Industry (1929)
Membership category	Fellow
Date of election	01/06/1899
Age at election	38
Proposer	Charles Thomas Heycock; Charles Chree; Walter Holbrook Gaskell; William Augustus Tilden; John Perry
Proposer	Joseph John Thomson; Richard Tetley Glazebrook; William Napier Shaw; Oliver Joseph Lodge; William Ramsay; Ernest Howard Griffiths; John Henry Poynting
Relationships	Parents: Richard Threlfall (1804–1870), of Hollowforth, wine merchant and sometime mayor of Preston, and Sarah Jane Mason (d. 1898). Spouse: Evelyn Agnes Baird (1866–1929) of Bowmont Hill, Northumberland. Children: Four sons and three daughters.
PublishedWorks	RCN R66236 RCN 17877 RCN R66237
OtherInfo	Designed and built the first automatic microtome for cutting thin uniform sections of specimens for microscopical examination. Established the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.
Royal Society Obituary or Memoir	Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
Image
Source	Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB Obituaries: Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1932-1935 vol l pp 45-53, plate, by Sir William Bate Hardy References: R E Threlfall, 'Sir Richard Threlfall GBE, FRS (1861-1932): Some Personal Memories' in NR 1961 vol 16 pp 234-242, plate R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 2. After 1847' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 47-84
Virtual International Authority File	http://viaf.org/viaf/118100507
Code	NA6235

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
GLB/24/1	Quotation from page 87 of 'The Periodical' sent by R E Threllfall to Brown	1959
IM/004600	Threlfall, Sir Richard	nd
NLB/4/149	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Richard Threlfall	25 February 1890
NLB/3/576	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, [Royal Society]	17 July 1889
NLB/3/591	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, Secretary, Royal Society	19 July 1889
NLB/3/1083	Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs West Newman & Company	7 January 1890
NLB/3/709	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Joseph John Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society	21 September 1889
NLB/3/717	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Joseph John Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society, Trinity College, Cambridge	25 September 1889
NLB/11/651	Copy letter from A H White, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt]	26 August 1895
NLB/11/747	Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs West, Newman & Company, 54 Hatton Garden, E.C.	30 September 1895
NLB/10/835	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Napier Shaw, Emmanuel College, Cambridge	15 February 1895
NLB/11/763	Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs Harrison & Sons	1 October 1895
NLB/11/885	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Napier Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society	28 October 1895
NLB/11/878	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt]	25 October 1895
RR/17/103	Referee's report by Hugh Longbourne Callendar, on a paper 'On a static method of comparing the densities of gases' by Richard Threlfall	[April 1906]
NLB/15/596	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor RichardThrelfall, [Fellow of the Royal Society]	1 November 1897
NLB/22/258	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Sir Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	1 April 1901
NLB/19/113	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	23 June 1899
NLB/18/614	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor J J Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society	11 April 1899
NLB/18/791	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to R Threlfall, 259 Hagley Road, Birmingham	13 May 1899
NLB/18/769	Copy letter from Michael Foster, to [R] Threlfall	[10 May 1899]
NLB/18/766	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor G Carey Foster, Fellow of the Royal Society	9 May 1899
NLB/19/800	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	22 December 1899
NLB/18/775	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to R Threlfall, 259 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham	10 May 1899
NLB/18/854	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor R Threlfall	31 May 1899
NLB/20/500	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	7 May 1900
NLB/20/817	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]	15 July 1900
NLB/21/701	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	11 January 1901
NLB/26/592	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to, Sir Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society, 30 George Road, Birmingham	27 April 1903
NLB/29/788	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	9 December 1904
NLB/34/34	Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society, George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, Sydney John Hickson, Fellow of the Royal Society	20 November 1906
NLB/32/642	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	26 April 1906
NLB/34/607	Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	13 February 1907
NLB/34/562	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	7 February 1907
NLB/36/734	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Thelfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	9 December 1907
NLB/39/38	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor R [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	17 November 1908
NLB/37/422	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor R [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	17 March 1908
NLB/39/77	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Harrison & Sons	21 November 1908
NLB/37/758	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor [Richard]Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	8 May 1908
NLB/40/54	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to R [Richard] Threlfall FRS	31 March 1909
NLB/63/480	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	27 October 1922
NLB/43/432	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	12 January 1911
NLB/43/456	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	20 January 1911
NLB/52/353	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mr. Richard Threlfall, FRS	15 November 1915
NLB/50/777	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	4 November 1914
NLB/54/408	Copy letter from [Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society]; to [Richard] Threlfall Esquire, FRS	4 May 1917
NLB/54/425	Copy letter from Dr. Arthur Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Richard] Threlfall Esquire, FRS	11 May 1917
RR/29/73	Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'Determination of velocity of explosion waves of small amplitude in sea water.?Variation of velocity with temperature' by A B Wood, H E Browne and C Cochrane	February 1923
NLB/54/649	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Arthur] Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society	13 July 1917
NLB/57/210	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfell, FRS, KBE	19 August 1919
NLB/57/205	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Hon. Secretary [RB Asquith Ellis Esq. Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers], James Watt Centenary	16 August 1919
NLB/56/780	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	23 May 1919
NLB/56/222	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	19 December 1918
NLB/58/792	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	18 June 1920
NLB/55/130	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to The Secretary, Board of Scientific Societies	12 December 1917
RR/14/248	Referee's report by Charles Vernon Boys, on a paper 'On a quartz thread gravity balance' by Richard Threlfall and James Arthur Pollock	nd [April 1899]
NLB/57/156	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS, KBE	31 July 1919
NLB/64/212	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	23 February 1923
NLB/57/198	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS, KBE	12 August 1919
RR/17/183	Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'Electric furnace reactions under high gaseous pressures' by R S Hutton and Joseph Ernest Petavel	[February 1907]
NLB/57/370	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS, KBE	28 October 1919
RR/47/130	Referee's report by Gerald Ponsonby Lenox-Conyngham, on a paper 'Further history of a quartz thread gravity balance' by Richard Threlfall and Alfred John Dawson	February 1932
NLB/57/184	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to RB Asquith Ellis Esq. AM I Mech. E [Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers] Hon. Sec. [Honorary Secretary] of the James Watt Centenary	8 August 1919
NLB/57/601	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	15 December 1919
RR/38/7	Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'The electrical condition of hot surfaces during the adsorption of gases. Part III.—A platinum surface at temperatures up to 850° C' by George Ingle Finch and J C Stimson	April 1929
NLB/57/593	Copy letter from Sir James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Director [Sir Joseph Ernest Petavel, FRS, KBE], the National Physical Laboratory	12 December 1919
NLB/56/214	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [William Whitehead Watts, FRS] the Secretary of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies	17 December 1918
NLB/62/95	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [William Whitehead Watts] the Secretary of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies	1 December 1921
NLB/64/123	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	5 February 1923
NLB/57/454	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Miss Annie Foster; Pell View Wodplumpton, nr [near] Preston, Lancs [Lancashire]	11 November 1919
NLB/64/855	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	2 July 1923
NLB/65/737	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, KBE, FRS	13 December 1923
NLB/67/138	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS	1 November 1924
NLB/72/917	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir William [Bate] Hardy, FRS	26 June 1930
NLB/72/913	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, GBE, FRS	25 June 1930
CD/5/17	Copy letter from the Royal Society, to Professor [John] Graham Kerr, Professor [John Stanley] Gardiner, Professor [James Thomas] Wilson, Sir [David] Prain, Dr [Arthur William] Hill, Sir Arthur Keith, Sir [Alfred Daniel] Hall, Professor [Robert] Newstead, Colonel [Henry George] Lyons, Dr [John William] Evans, Sir [Richard] Threlfall, Sir [John] Cadman	18 January 1923
CD/68/3	Copy letter from [Richard] Threlfall, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	7 May 1917
EC/1899/14	Threlfall, Sir Richard: certificate of election to the Royal Society
IM/GA/WRS/1718	Threlfall, Sir Richard	nd
NLB/3/730	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Joseph John Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society	26 September 1889
NLB/3/675	Copy letter from Alfred H White, to Messrs West, Newman & Company	29 August 1889
NLB/35/280	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Arthur Schuster, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Physics and Chemistry Committee	10 May 1907
NLB/37/446	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to R [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	20 March 1908
NLB/51/142	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to Richard Threlfall, FRS	16 December 1914
NLB/52/93	Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Vice President of the Royal Society to Richard Threlfall FRS	10 August 1915
RR/12/249	Letter from William Napier Shaw, to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, regarding a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen	13 February 1895
NLB/10/625	Copy letter from Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], to Professor Richard Threlfall, Sydney, Australia	3 January 1895
NLB/57/197	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Hon. Secretary [RB Asquith Ellis Esq. Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers] , James Watt Centenary; Chamber of Commerce Building, New Street, Birmingham	12 August 1919
NLB/53/370	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to The Secretary, Reconstruction Committee, 6a Dean's Yard, S.W.	24 July 1916
RR/10/310	Referee's report by Andrew Noble, on a paper 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	6 July 1889
NLB/52	New Letter Book volume 52, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration	9 July 1915-8 March 1916
NLB/57	New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration	27 June 1919-27 February 1920
RR/10/309	Detailed referee's report by Robert Bellamy Clifton, on a paper 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	nd [1889]
RR/12/248	Letter from John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, to Richard Threlfall, regarding a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen	3 January 1895
PP/14/36/2	Diagram, 'Sketch shewing method for finding the distance EF between two spikes in the tops of two piles in Berry's Bay, Port Jackson [Australia]' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	1889
PP/8/23/1	Manuscript, 'Some experiments on the production of ozone' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall	1886
PP/8/23	Paper, 'Some experiments on the production of ozone' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall	1886
PP/8/22/2	Figures, experimental equipment by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall	1886
PP/8/22	Paper, 'On an effect produced by the passage of an electric discharge through pure nitrogen' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall	1886
PP/14/36/3	Diagram, experimental equipment by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	1889
PP/14/36/1	Manuscript, 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	1889
PP/14/36	Paper, 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	1889
RR/14/249	Referee's report by John Henry Poynting, on a paper 'On a quartz thread gravity balance' by Richard Threlfall and James Arthur Pollock	8 May 1899
RR/10/308	Referee's report by Robert Bellamy Clifton, on a paper 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair	23 April 1889
RR/12/245	Letter from William Napier Shaw, to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, regarding a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen	21 July 1894
RR/12/246	Referee's report by William Napier Shaw, on a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen	21 July 1894
RR/12/247	Referee's report by George Carey Foster, on a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen	11 December 1894
RR/26/16	Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'Researches on the chemistry of coal. Part II .— The resinic constituents and coking propensities of coals' by William Arthur Bone, A R Pearson, E Sinkinson and W E Stockings	[November 1921]
PP/8/22/1	Manuscript, 'On an effect produced by the passage of an electric discharge through pure nitrogen' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall	1886
PP/8/23/2	Diagram, experimental equipment by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall	1886
NLB/43/423	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society	10 January 1911

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